Holy or Disc 10m HM DS

So I have healed 25 mans as Disc/Holy since Wrath. Our guild has had some issues with attendance and stuff so we are splitting into 2 10mans, 1 being whatever and the other being HM Content. I have been picked to heal the HM group. Now I have been Holy almost every fight when we were doing 25 mans, and I planned on staying Holy even for 10 mans, but is one spec better than the other for 10m HMs? Is there a specific talent tree spec I need to choose? If anyone has any tips or details regarding healing as Holy and Disc in 10m HMs (DS) then please share.

Thanks!

EDIT: We have done 1/8HM in 25m and gotten both Yor'sahj and Hagara to 50% so we aren't just starting into Heroics.

Short answer, no, at this point in the "race", spec doesn't matter. Some fights will cater well to one spec over another, but then it quickly flops back again for the next.

Three fights this tier that would handle Discipline better than Holy in a 10 man context would be Ultraxion (spending the first half of the fight smiting), and then Blackhorn and Madness (late shout, and Elementium Bolt, both soaking with Barrier) when Divine Hymn alone won't save people.

Those are the only fights I lean Discipline on. Everything else a Hymn can counter, and is more or less decided on who you run with. Druid? Run Discipline. Paladin? Run Holy. Shaman? You're likely to shift depending on the fight.

Short answer, no, at this point in the "race", spec doesn't matter. Some fights will cater well to one spec over another, but then it quickly flops back again for the next.

Three fights this tier that would handle Discipline better than Holy in a 10 man context would be Ultraxion (spending the first half of the fight smiting), and then Blackhorn and Madness (late shout, and Elementium Bolt, both soaking with Barrier) when Divine Hymn alone won't save people.

Those are the only fights I lean Discipline on. Everything else a Hymn can counter, and is more or less decided on who you run with. Druid? Run Discipline. Paladin? Run Holy. Shaman? You're likely to shift depending on the fight.

Pretty much exactly what I needed to know. This is also what I was thinking, thanks.

Idd, in most cases it seems like damage reduction > healing it back up fast. Also if you're making a list of fight where disc is good, don't forget ooze boss. Since most of the time you'll have purple up, divine hymn from a survival cooldown turns in to a raid wipe button. Also shield is a strongest emergency heal we have and CoH will give you 6 stacks, while penance will give only 1 for around the same amount healed.

You can't use Power Infusion on your mages or your Shaman as their cooldowns interfere with it. So that leaves Shadow Priests (unless they're using 4pc as intended, in which case don't PI them), Warlocks (no idea which spec would benefit most) or Balance Druids... Are those even around anymore? Been months since I saw my last one.

Power Infusion isn't as awesome on Spine as you think it is, and Holy is better for the actual healing part of this encounter.

As for "damage prevented is always better than damage healed" that is a pile of baloney. The only time that's true is if the target would die between heals being cast. Given the severity of raid damage this tier, even a mastery stacking shield 9 times out of ten still wouldn't be enough to save someone from something that would kill them, so they're functionally the same (except one leaves a health deficit but has the higher potential to meter pad).

I agree, I run disc on 7 out of the 8 fights in combination with a pally healer and druid healer.
Only fight i go holy now is Spine, it just feels better and a Divine Hymn + Tranq combo is great to get rid of the debuffs after killing corruptions each new plate. Also im AA/Holy spec doing some damage on corruption to build 5 stacks stack for barrel roll activate wings (macro'd with engi-synaps springs) place sanct and cast divine hymn is very nice.

2 heal everything on normal tho (disc+Hpally) , cept spine as dps is a non issue and 3 heals makes it just easier while killing the encounter in the same time as 2 heal.

HM's im going to be disc as i find that better meself with our heal team.

Power Infusion isn't as awesome on Spine as you think it is, and Holy is better for the actual healing part of this encounter.

Holy in theory has better numbers for throughput, but I just find disc is still better for 10man HC Spine.
I'm not saying it's not possible to heal it as holy but there is still not a single successful kill logged with a holy priest healing it

As for "damage prevented is always better than damage healed" that is a pile of baloney. The only time that's true is if the target would die between heals being cast.

The only time? Really? Have you tried Spine HC?? Damage prevention is massively better for people with the debuff, particularly after the 2nd plate is off and raid damage ramps up quickly.

You can't use Power Infusion on your mages or your Shaman as their cooldowns interfere with it.

Huh? Is the mage's cooldown available for each tendon? I thought the cooldown was longer than that.
And, what's the cooldown for Shaman that intereres with Power Infuse? My group's elemental shaman is thrilled with my PI's.

Also: it's really, really nice to be able to power infuse a DPS during the burn on each large tentacle on madness...

Hmm, I am shadow MS but I heal 2 fights which are Hagara and Zon'ozz. I would say holy is better for hagara due to sprint when shielding ppl running outside the circle (bubble the debuffed ppl that are getting slowed). Zon'ozz is good for both I guess, Divine hymn vs Barrier kind of. I am the healer that focus mostly on the tank and I think holy is a little weaker when it comes to healing a tank - Pain Sup is sooo good - Guardian not THAT great, but doable.

I respectfully disagree. Damage prevention on spine makes a huge difference. For instance a quick shield on someone with the healing debuff + gripped by the tendon while you have a chance to heal them up. I'm not saying Holy could not be viable. But I am saying there is no logs of any holy priest for 10m Heroic Spine. There are reasons for this which have been mentioned. Also, yes balance druids exist although ours is 50/50 with resto :P.

I stick with disc on most (normal) fights except Madness, in which GS is op until you kill the add before the second impale. I just think that in 10 man Disc PoH is OP because it keeps the raid pretty leveled off by absorbing those big AOE hits, or is completely used by the pulsating aoe's. On Morchock, my average Ageis was 30k, peak was 65k. That made it easier to carry the off spec Ele-shaman being the 4th healer.

I run with a Holy Pali and a Resto Shaman. Chain heal takes care of the low people, and Pali can burst heal or aoe heal when needed.
It also depends on how you are geared. I stick with Int> Spirit> Mastery. I find myself only using PW:S, PoH and Penance on the tank.

(I only raid HC content about 3 hours a week, so this is not 100% set in stone, just my personal opinions and observation.)

Holy does have great burst healing though, and DH is great for 10 man.

I'm not saying it's not possible to heal it as holy but there is still not a single successful kill logged with a holy priest healing it

Well, at least not public logs.

The only time? Really? Have you tried Spine HC?? Damage prevention is massively better for people with the debuff, particularly after the 2nd plate is off and raid damage ramps up quickly.

Better handling of the debuff throughout the fight means you handle it better when it comes to plate being off. The shield itself doesn't remove the debuff, they still need to be healed. You also can't shield every grip target in 1 GCD meaning they NEED stronger healing. Again I iterate, "absorbs are not unequivocally better unless the target takes more damage than their current health before the next heal can land" or in other terms, "they died". It's almost like I said that before. And to be frank, Serendipity hasted Greaters are actually more crucial to this fight than a Shield is.

---------- Post added 2012-01-17 at 12:38 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Reddles

Huh? Is the mage's cooldown available for each tendon? I thought the cooldown was longer than that.
And, what's the cooldown for Shaman that intereres with Power Infuse? My group's elemental shaman is thrilled with my PI's.

If yor mages have the 4pc, the cooldown drops to 37.5 seconds. And Power Infusion's haste effect doesn't stack with Elemental Mastery.

Also: it's really, really nice to be able to power infuse a DPS during the burn on each large tentacle on madness...

True. I just found Barrier for bolts (and a shield on impale) was the stronger argument in favor of Discipline more than Power Infusion for that particular fight.

Well, at least not public logs.
Better handling of the debuff throughout the fight means you handle it better when it comes to plate being off. The shield itself doesn't remove the debuff, they still need to be healed. You also can't shield every grip target in 1 GCD meaning they NEED stronger healing. Again I iterate, "absorbs are not unequivocally better unless the target takes more damage than their current health before the next heal can land" or in other terms, "they died". It's almost like I said that before. And to be frank, Serendipity hasted Greaters are actually more crucial to this fight than a Shield is.

Just how many attempts/kills have you had on Spine 10 HC? Or is this just theory from you? As I said in theory Holy would be better but in practice it just isn't.
Given it takes well over 100+ attempts to get this kill it would be very naive to think priests hadn't tried both specs and reached a similar conclusion, or do you know something all these other priests don't? -Please share! Is it possible for you to post/PM your logs please?

Just how many attempts/kills have you had on Spine 10 HC? Or is this just theory from you? As I said in theory Holy would be better but in practice it just isn't.
Given it takes well over 100+ attempts to get this kill it would be very naive to think priests hadn't tried both specs and reached a similar conclusion, or do you know something all these other priests don't? -Please share! Is it possible for you to post/PM your logs please?

I think I recall Kelesti posting something in the past that they prefer to remain anonymous? Not sure, I could be incorrect.